Middle school teachers,
student earn recognition
MARLBORO — Two teachers and a student are being honored for their accomplishments at the Marlboro Middle School.
As one of five winners of the Technol-ogy Educators Association of New Jersey’s (TEANJ) 2002 Innovative Tech-nology Educator Awards, Andrew Bar-cello will receive $10,000. The awards, sponsored by the Martinson Family Foundation, recognize innovation in the field of technology education.
Barcello, a staff member at the middle school for 28 years, teaches courses in applied technology and junior engineering.
Barcello said his career began teaching standard woodshop courses. Over the years he phased out building typical take-home projects and began placing emphasis on physical design and problem solving. Now, the results of projects determine grades, rather than aesthetics.
"I remember back in 1976, the Bicentennial year, we worked on making colonial furniture, and everyone sort of patted me on the back for it," Barcello said. "As I’m speaking, it’s amazing to think back on some of these things and the evolution of my classes and career."
One of Barcello’s most popular projects is the design of airplanes made out of balsa wood. To learn more about the physics of flight, Barcello said he took piloting classes at Allaire Executive Airport, Wall Township, and joined a model plane club.
Complete with propellers spun by rubber bands, the project is graded by how far the plane flies. Most travel about 60 to 80 feet, but the record is approximately 110 feet.
"Sometimes students come into my class and look up at the wall at the names of past students and they say to themselves, ‘I want to break that record,’ " Barcello said.
Barcello will be presented with the award at a banquet to be held at the Glenpointe Marriott, Teaneck, on May 22.
Receiving the Edith May Sliffe Award for Distinguished Junior High School Mathematics Teaching is Joan M. Turner. The Mathematical Association of America (MAA) selected Turner as one of 60 recipients from junior high schools in the United States and Canada.
The award is based on the total performance of the three top-scoring students of a school in the American Mathematics Contest 8 (AMC 8) over the past three years. The AMC 8 is a 25-question, 40-minute multiple choice exam.
"As a group, I guess my students do reasonably well," Turner said, "but I think a big part of it comes from the home and the parents in Marlboro."
Turner, who has been teaching at the school since 1987, teaches eighth-grade courses in mathematics A, B and C.
As a winner, Turner will receive a $100 check, a letter of recognition, a Sliffe Award Winner Pin, a certificate from the MAA, a free one-year membership to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and a one-year subscription to Math Horizons Magazine.
This year’s selection as Monmouth County School Boards Student Achiever of the 2001-02 School Year is Stephanie Goldberg. The eighth-grader was one of 16 students considered for the award.
The school boards award is selected annually by a panel of teachers and administrators from the middle school. The winner is determined by the student’s grades from seventh and eighth grade, as well as service to the community and school.